Household Foil
About Household Foil
Among all other items in a kitchen, the aluminium foil might be the most versatile one. People use them for all sorts of things from wrapping snacks, to cooking and storing food. It is hard to imagine a life without them these days.
Aluminium is one of the most abundant minerals on earth. It is strong, lightweight and relatively resistant to corrosion when you compare it to other metals. These properties make it useful for a lot of different things. We all use them in our everyday lives. From cooking in aluminium pots spoons and food wraps, aluminium is ubiquitous in kitchens. But before you start shopping for aluminium foil, read this article to know more about them. Having a better understanding of them will help you make better choices when you purchase.
A guide to aluminium foil
A foil might seem like a pretty simple household item. But with time they have proved their value in adding perfection to many recipes. In today’s kitchens, they are much more than just an item that people use to wrap their snacks. With varying uses and increasing importance, there is a wide range available in the market. Today they are available in different colours, thicknesses, and strengths. In order to decide which type of foil you should buy for your kitchen, you need to know what each type of foil is for. A regular aluminium foil is not the best choice for decorating sweets or for heavy-duty packing. This article will tell you everything you need about them.
Household aluminium foil
Household foil is a thin sheet of aluminium that does not have any colour on them. They are basically just drawn out sheets of large aluminium ingots. As the aluminium metal is available in abundance, they are very cheap. But to make the foil sheet more usable, there will be two different surfaces to it. The polished surface keeps the foil from sticking to the food while the outer surface sticks to itself and helps you to fold the sheet. Wrapping the food in aluminium foil keeps the food fresh and protects it from moisture.
Decorative foil
Unlike household foils, decorative foils are not for wrapping your snacks. Decorative foils come in a wide variety of styles and colours. When it comes to the way people use decorative foils, it is way different than household aluminium foil. The primary use of such foils is for decorations. You can use them to wrap wood, ceramics, glass, chocolates, or anything else that you want to decorate. This basically adds colour to the thing and makes it more presentable. So, if you are looking for an affordable option to decorate your house for a party or want to wrap a gift, a decorative aluminium foil is a good choice.
Uses of kitchen foil
Aluminium foils are very versatile. You can use them for so many different things. And that is why it is such a common household item. The primary purpose of an aluminium foil is as an easy way to pack food. You can wrap non-liquid food in a foil, and they will stay hot and fresh for hours. For this reason, people pack their snacks and lunch in aluminium. It is safer to pack hot food items in aluminium than in a plastic container. Aluminium does not melt like plastic and therefore, does not pose a threat to health. People use them for baking, to crush sugar, and for food decoration as well.
Thin vs thick food wrapping foil
Even among household foils, not all of them are the same. There are further divisions based on the thickness of the foil. The most common type of foil, or the standard duty foil, is thin and is suitable for wrapping normal solid or semi-solid dishes. As it uses less amount of aluminium, they are relatively cheaper. On the other hand, heavy-duty aluminium foils are way thicker. Not surprisingly, they can withstand a lot of wear and tear. They don’t get torn or punctured as easily as the standard duty foil. You can use them for covering grills in ovens, as a disposable lid, lining baking pans, etc.
Tips on how to buy the right type of foil
Most people think that any kind of aluminium foil will do regardless of what they are using it for. Furthermore, most of them aren’t even aware of the fact that there exist different types of foils. In fact, it can be hard to choose the right type of foil as the differences between them are subtle and hard to notice. But if you know what to look for in them, it gets easier. Here is a list of tips that you can follow when you are shopping for aluminium foils.
- Type of the foil – There are different types of foils for different purposes. The major difference lies in the tempter or the hardness of the foil. For wrapping light snacks and for most of the household purposes, you will need a soft tempered foil. For rigid packaging, like sealing a disposable food packet, you cannot do without hard tempered foil.
- Gauge of the foil – The thickness of typical foils ranges from o.2 mil metres to 2 mils. Also, don’t confuse mil with millimetre. Mil is one-thousandth of an inch while millimetre is one-thousandth of a metre. The most common gauge for food packaging and confectioneries is gauged 0.2 mils.
- Type of alloy – Aluminium foils use alloys instead of pure aluminium for added strength. The exact characteristics of the foil change slightly depending on the alloy composition. Numbers are used to determining the type of alloy of a foil. Among them, 8079 is the highest quality alloy, and 1100 is the lowest.
- Colours – This one applies only for decorative foils. Such foils come in a wide variety of metallic colours and patterns. So, among all other factors, you should also consider the colour and pattern of the foil while choosing a decorative foil. Wettability is a key factor that decides the quality of the print on a sheet of foil.
Be careful to store aluminium foil properly to keep it from going bad. Humidity is the enemy of metals. It can corrode the foil and cause bacterial growth inside the foil role. If the foil is corroded, it becomes unsafe to use it for storing food or cooking. Using a foil holder can help keep the unused foil free of moisture. You can look for them here on Shops.ae. Also, don’t forget to check out other home and living products as well.
Question & Answer
Are aluminium foil and tin foil the same?
The aluminium foil did not exist as a consumer product a few decades ago. Instead, everyone used tin foil. But it was not affordable to most people because tin foil was quite expensive as compared to the modern aluminium foils. To understand how expensive tin foils were, a fifty-foot roll of tin foil sheet cost hundreds of US dollars. For this reason, only affluent people could afford them. Real tin foils, therefore, faded in popularity after the coming of aluminium foils. But these days tin foil and aluminium foil are used to mean the same thing.
Can you use aluminium foil when you are cooking?
Aluminium foils are safe if you are using it the right way. For that, you need to know what the right way is to use it. You can use them to line the baking pans so that it will be easier to clean them afterwards. Another way to use foil as a lining is to cover the bottom of the oven with foil. This will help you keep the oven free of stains and food spills. Covering the meat in foil before placing it inside the oven will help you get even doneness. What is not okay is to cover the entire bottom of the. Also, don’t cover the entire bottom of the oven when you are operating it. Instead, just keep a piece of the sheet under the vessel.
Is it okay to use aluminium foil on windows?
People have found a variety of creative ways to make use of aluminium foil. One of them is to use it to cover the window glass. If you are considering doing so as an easy way to blackout your windows, there is no harm in that. However, be careful not to use hard adhesive to stick it on the glass. This will make it extremely difficult to remove the foil afterwards without damaging the window. Instead, use light adhesives. One downside is that your window will look very odd for someone looking from outside.
Is it safe to use aluminium foil?
People have been using aluminium foil for cooking and storing food for quite a long time. We can say with a good amount of certainty that it is safe to use them. But that being said, it is a fact that aluminium foil will increase the amount of aluminium in your food by a tiny amount. For most people, there is no harm in consuming food with slightly higher levels of aluminium. Unless you have any health condition or your doctor asks you to stop using foil, it is unlikely to cause any health issues.
If you are looking to buy aluminium foil online in the UAE, look no further as you are in the right place. You will find anything from best heavy-duty aluminium foil to decorative aluminium foil wrap for chocolate on Shops.ae. You can find the best one among them using the product search engine and by comparing the prices and features of different options. On Shops.ae, there are more than 500 shops and brands offering kitchen utensils including brands like Diamond, Glad, Falcon, Waitrose, Freshwrapp, Platinum Care, Hotpack, Sanita, etc.